Working together to understand , bring awareness and help to those victims of Earth’s Natural Dynamic of Change and Cleansing in her eternal voyage though the galaxy and prepare ourselves for the coming events…

NASA scientists took time on Wednesday (Nov. 28) to soothe 2012 doomsday fears, warning against the dark side of Mayan apocalypse rumors — frightened children and suicidal teens who truly fear the world may come to an end Dec. 21.

These fears are based on misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar. On the 21st, the date of the winter solstice, a calendar cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun comes to an end. Although Maya scholars agree that the ancient Maya would not have seen this day as apocalyptic, rumors have spread that a cosmic event may end life on Earth on that day.

Thus NASA's involvement. The space agency maintains a 2012 information page debunking popular Mayan apocalypse rumors, such as the idea that a rogue planet will hit Earth on Dec. 21, killing everyone. (In fact, astronomers are quite good at detecting near-Earth objects, and any wandering planet scheduled to collide with Earth in three weeks would be the brightest object in the sky behind the sun and moon by now.)

Unfortunately, Morrison said, the fantasy has real-life consequences. As one of NASA's prominent speakers on 2012 doomsday myths, Morrison said, he receives many emails and letters from worried citizens, particularly young people. Some say they can't eat, or are too worried to sleep, Morrison said. Others say they're suicidal.

"While this is a joke to some people and a mystery to others, there is a core of people who are truly concerned," he said.

Not every 2012 apocalypse believer thinks the world will end on Dec. 21. Some, inspired by New Age philosophies, expect a day of universal peace and spiritual transformation. But it's impressionable kids who have NASA officials worried.

"I think it's evil for people to propagate rumors on the Internet to frighten children," Morrison said.

Myths and misconceptions

NASA scientists took questions via social media in the hour-long video chat, debunking doomsday myths from the rogue planet Nibiru to the danger of killer solar flares.

In fact, said NASA heliophysicist Lika Guhathakurta, it's true that the sun is currently in an active phase of its cycle, meaning electromagnetic energy has picked up. Large solar flares can impact electronics and navigation systems on Earth, but satellites monitoring the sun give plenty of warning and allow officials to compensate for the extra electromagnetic activity when it hits our atmosphere. What's more, Guhathakurta said, this particular solar maximum is the "wimpiest" in some time — scientists have no reason to expect solar storms beyond what our planet has weathered in the past.

Nor are any near-Earth objects, planetary or otherwise, threatening to slam into our planet on Dec. 21, said Don Yeomans, a planetary scientist who tracks near-Earth objects at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The only close asteroid approach on the horizon is forecast to occur on Feb. 13, 2013, when an asteroid will pass within 4.5 Earth radii to our planet (for perspective, Earth's radius is 3,963 miles, or 6,378 kilometers). The asteroid is not going to hit Earth, Yeomans said.

Other rumors — that the Earth's magnetic field will suddenly reverse or that the planet will travel almost 30,000 light-years and fall into the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy — were also dismissed. (A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles, or 10 trillion km.)

One popular rumor that the planet will undergo a complete blackout from Dec. 23 to 25 earned a "What?" and blank looks from the panel of scientists.

Ultimately, concerns about Earth's fate would be better focused on slow-acting problems such as climate change rather than some sort of cosmic catastrophe, said Andrew Fraknoi, an astronomer at Foothill College in California.

In 2006 the organization responsible for classifying celestial bodies, the International Astronomical Union, decided that a new class of objects was needed. The solar system's erratic ninth planet, Pluto, was assigned to the new “dwarf planet” category along with four other bodies, all tinier than Earth’s moon. Some astronomers expect there may be as many as 50 dwarf planets in the solar system.

Eris, the largest dwarf planet, is only slightly bigger than Pluto, at 1,445 miles in diameter (2,326 km). Discovered in 2003, Eris orbits at an average distance of 68 AU (that is, 68 times the Earth’s distance from the sun) and takes 561.4 Earth years to circle the sun. Eris has the orbit that is most highly inclined of all the dwarf planets, tilted nearly 47 degrees from the plane of the planets’ orbits. A day on Eris takes 25.9 hours. Eris has one moon, Dysnomia.

Pluto, discovered in 1930, orbits the sun at an average of 39.5 times the Earth’s distance. Its diameter is 1,430 miles (2,302 km). Pluto takes 247.9 Earth years to orbit the sun, and its day is 6.39 times as long as Earth’s. Pluto has five known moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra and two that were recently discovered and have not yet been named.

Haumea was discovered in 2003. This dwarf planet has an extremely elongated shape, with its longest dimension being about 1,218 miles long (1,960 km). Haumea rotates very rapidly and has the shortest day of all the dwarf planets, only 3.9 hours. Orbiting 43.1 times farther from the sun than Earth does, Haumea takes nearly 282 Earth years to complete one orbit. Haumea has two moons, Hi’iaka and Namaka.

Makemake, discovered in 2005, has no known moons. Makemake orbits at 45.3 times Earth’s distance and takes more than 305 years to complete a circuit of the sun. Its day is 22.5 hours. Makemake’s average diameter is 882 miles (1,420 km).

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Tom Perez thinks a dirty-bomb attack on the United States is inevitable. As it happens, the preparations he's made for such an event could be applicable to scenarios that may be more likely, such as a cataclysmic storm, or very less likely, say, a zombie invasion.

In Monday night's episode of the popular "Doomsday Preppers" on the National Geographic Channel, Perez takes viewers inside his plan to bug out of Houston with his family and hunker down six hours away at a compound he's spent more than a decade building and maintaining. It's a formidable place: two houses with protective gates, a high-tech security system, bulletproof walls, a blast-proof water cistern and a tremendous amount of ammunition. Typically, "Doomsday Preppers" features some far-out types, but with McAllen native Perez, there's more method than madness. He answered a few questions about his compound.

Q: How difficult was choosing a locale for your compound? It's above an aquifer, and it's remote. I assume you had a list of qualities you were looking for.

A: It was based on how easily I could get there and how difficult it would be for others. During the hurricane (Rita), most people headed north toward Dallas. Some toward San Antonio. I wanted a place where I could just keep going until I got to my own compound. It does have some setbacks, but ultimately I'll live there someday.

Q: Was this sort of evacuation something you considered prior to 9/11?

A: Well, I had the idea in place before that. But 9/11 really hit home. It still angers me, something like that could happen: so many lives changed and the way we live now, the way we think. My heart goes out to all the people who were lost and the survivors. But I took it personally. It was a wake-up call.

Q: Clearly you're not counting on the government to protect you. But self-sufficiency of this nature has faded some in our culture.

A: That's so true. For example, Steven (Perez's prepper partner, whose family will join Perez's at the compound) and I met yesterday. We do have these geese that pass through our compound. So we purchased the right ammunition, 3½-inch shells. But there are so many modern things we do that we take for granted. So we're trying to keep doing some of these older things that are part of our heritage, really. These are skills that people don't use. That they think are somehow only in our past.

Q: Some are likely to be squeamish about watching you and the young children slaughtering and butchering the goat. But you seem to have a pretty good understanding of how to make an animal into meat.

A: That's true. I tell my kids when they eat a burger, it's no different. That was a cow at one point. A lot of people don't look at it that way. But if you break it down into basic things, you're paying an extra price to have it prepared in a presentable way.

Q: And you seemed to make use of the whole thing, including Steven - whose family will join yours - slurping down the eyeball.

A: At the ranch I always say anything organic is fertilizer. We do try to use everything, though, that's so true. By the way, I ate the other eyeball. And it tasted good.

A Los Angeles-based survival group is one of many preparing for possible disaster scenarios Dec. 21, 2012. (SGVN/Staff photo by James Figueroa)

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY - Inside a used RV that's anything but recreational and loaded with survival equipment, rain has leaked through a wooden overhead bin near a light fixture.
A.B. remarks that he'll have to get that fixed, and time is running short.
It's now less than one month until his group's "ready" date - December 21, 2012, when the long-predicted doomsday event based on the Mayan long-form calendar could arrive.
A Los Angeles-area survival group has actively recruited people with specific skills in the past few months, tying its disaster preparedness effort to Dec. 21.
The founder, A.B. (who asked to remain anonymous), doesn't necessarily believe the prediction, but he's certain that something will happen eventually.
"There's so many different scenarios, there's so many things that could possibly go wrong," he said.
A member of the U.S. Armed Forces, A.B. and several others in the group have military experience that has taught them survival skills.
Preparing to survive a catastrophe has become its own culture, popularized by the cable show "Doomsday Preppers" and giving rise to the American Preppers Network, which offers tips and contacts to practice self-reliance during disasters.
When it all hits the fan - or SHTF - preppers usually have "bug-out" bags and locations ready to go, with means of survival such as food stores, water access and security measures.
There are numerous doomsday

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scenarios: powerful earthquakes, a super volcano at Yellowstone National Park, economic and social collapse, nuclear fallout or a solar storm that destroys satellites and electrical grids.Few preppers rely on the Dec. 21 prediction, however. Experts on Mayan culture say that date, the winter solstice, simply marks the end of a cycle, no different than flipping the calendar to a new year after Dec. 31.
Despite assurances by NASA and others that no threat is imminent, the date has still built up its own mythos.
"I do have some members who believe, come Dec. 21, 2012, all hell is going to break loose," A.B. said.
His survival community is large, with about 65 active members and about 150 when counting spouses, children and other loved ones.
A.B. is still willing to take in a few others, but only to fulfill specific functions, such as doctors, engineers and ham radio operators. There's a job need list on the group website, atwww.2012survival-community.org.
Other members of the community declined to be interviewed, and other groups in the Los Angeles area also declined.
Preppers often like to maintain their privacy, out

A Los Angeles-based survival group is one of many preparing for possible disaster scenarios Dec. 21, 2012. (SGVN/Staff photo by James Figueroa)

of concern that outsiders might figure out their bug-out locations and overrun them.A.B.'s group has several places picked out, within California, where there's enough wildlife to live off the land and water sources that could be used to catch fish.
One location has a swimming pool where fish can be raised, a technique that A.B. saw on "Doomsday Preppers." Innovation is common among preppers, and others often borrow ideas.
The hope is to survive long enough for government and society to stabilize, and A.B. even cautions members to protect against pregnancies until things return to normal.
"We hope the government will someday replenish the electricity. Once that's accomplished, then everything else comes back online," he said. "We all believe that life will continue, just not the way we're used to."
In the RV, A.B. holds up an ice cream maker.
It isn't there for ice cream, but it's an effective way to complete the pasteurization process for milk, which will come from two pygmy goats.
He also has five hens for eggs, several potted plants, medical supplies and a kitchen full of dry and canned food that he plans to load up before driving out of L.A.
The parts for small wind turbines are stored in the RV, along with two weather stations, a telescope and small game traps. Electricity shouldn't be a problem, with five gas generators, two hydro-electric generators, 10 solar panels and several inverters.

A Los Angeles-based survival group is one of many preparing for possible disaster scenarios Dec. 21, 2012. (SGVN/Staff photo by James Figueroa)

There are also two 450-gallon water tanks and A.B.'s homemade water heater, plus a U-haul truck loaded with supplies.
And every week, A.B. works to acquire other goods his community might need.
Other preppers have criticized him for assembling such a large group and basing it in Los Angeles, often regarded as one of the worst places to be in a disaster.
But this is where he lives, where his family lives, and he believes there's safety in numbers, with multiple people capable of providing 24-hour security.
A.B. has five children, three of them young adults who live apart from him, and he wants to have the resources to take care of them.
"It's a stress on my side, I worry about my family, I worry about people I care about," he said. "But trying to do it all, it's an impossibility."
His father doesn't believe in the need for extreme disaster preparedness, and A.B. recognizes that a disaster could force him to make some difficult decisions.
"Just leaving my mom behind is something I do not want to think about," he said.
The community itself is carefully balanced. Some applicants are rejected, with members providing input about who gets to join.
One person, a professional clown, was met with skepticism by the group because no other skills were offered. It was a tough decision, A.B. said, that never had to be made because the person didn't respond to a questionnaire.
An astrophysicist also came with some question marks because of clashing personalities, and A.B. wound up agreeing to share some provisions as separate groups.
"I think where we're at is a stable operation right now," he said. "I wouldn't want to get anything beyond 150."james.figueroa@sgvn.com

Fears the end of the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world this coming December have run rife on the internet in recent years.

Less well known is the rumour that one particular mountain in south-west France will burst open on that day revealing an alien spaceship which will carry nearby humans to safety.

Well, if you were counting on that possibility to save you from the apocalypse, prepare to be disappointed. French officials have banned access to the Pic de Bugarach to avoid a rush of New Age fanatics, sightseers and, above all, journalists.

The Pic de Bugarach, south-west France: Online rumours claim that on December 21 the mountain will burst open to reveal an alien spaceship that will rescue those nearby from the apocalypse

A hundred police and firefighters will also control approaches to the tiny village of the same name at the foot of the mountain, and if too many people turn up, they will block access there too.

Believers say the world will end on December 21, 2012, the end date of the ancient Mayan calendar, and they see Bugarach as one of a few sacred mountains sheltered from the cataclysm.

Eric Freysselinard, France's top official in the area, told AFP: 'We are expecting a few visionaries, a few people who believe in this end of the world, but in extremely limited numbers.

'We are expecting greater numbers of people who are just curious, but in numbers we cannot determine. Above all, we are expecting lots of journalists.'

Expectations: With the Aztec Mayan calendar, pictured, ending on or around December 21 some fear it means the people believed it to be the end of the world

No-go zone: French officials have banned access to the Pic de Bugarach, in south-west France, to avoid a rush of New Age fanatics

Films, documentaries and websites have promoted the idea that the ancient Mayan calendar, which is made up of 394-year periods called baktuns, predicts that doomsday is on December 21.

Experts estimate the system starts counting at 3114 B.C., and will have run through 13 baktuns, or 5,125 years, around December 21.

They say 13 was a significant number for the Maya, and the end of that cycle would be a milestone — but they have been keen to stress that it does not mark an end.

Conspiracy theorists nonetheless believe the Maya may have been privy to impending astronomical disasters that would coincide with 2012, ranging from explosive storms on the surface of the sun that could knock out power grids to a galactic alignment that could trigger a reversal in Earth's magnetic field.

The culture ministry in Guatemala - where half the population are of Mayan descent - is hosting a massive event in the capital just in case the world actually does end, while tour groups are promoting doomsday-themed getaways.

Culture's remains: The Mayan temple at Xunantunich, Belize is seen where the people's culture of writing, astronomy and temple complexes flourished from years 300 to 900

But the country's Maya alliance Oxlaljuj Ajpop accuses the government and tour groups of perpetuating the myth that their calendar foresees the imminent end of the world for monetary gain.

It issued a statement last month saying that the new Maya time cycle simply 'means there will be big changes on the personal, family and community level, so that there is harmony and balance between mankind and nature.'

In September Mexican government archaeologist Alfredo Barrera said that the Maya tried to make predictions, but perhaps about more humdrum events like droughts or disease outbreaks.

Big plans: Arguing Mayan prophecies beyond 2012, king of Palenque, K'inich Hanaab Pakal, pictured, said he would return to Earth a couple thousands years from now in the future

'The Mayas did make prophecies, but not in a fatalistic sense, but rather about events that, in their cyclical conception of history, could be repeated in the future,' said Barrera, of the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Experts have stressed that the ancient Maya, whose 'classic' culture of writing, astronomy and temple complexes flourished from the year 300 to 900, were extremely interested in future events, far beyond Dec. 21.

'There are many ancient Maya monuments that discuss events far into the future from now,' wrote Geoffrey Braswell, an anthropologist at the University of California at San Diego. 'The ancient Maya clearly believed things would happen far into the future from now.'

'The king of Palenque, K'inich Hanaab Pakal, believed he would return to the Earth a couple of thousand years from now in the future,' Dr Braswell wrote in an email to The Associated Press. 'Moreover, other monuments discuss events even before the creation in 3114 B.C.'

Only a couple of references to the 2012 date equivalency have been found carved in stone at Maya sites, and neither refers to an apocalypse, experts say.

Such apocalyptic visions have been common for more than 1,000 years in Western, Christian thinking, and are not native to Maya thought.

'This is thinking that, in truth, has nothing to do with Mayan culture,' said Alexander Voss, an anthropologist at the University Of Quintana Roo, a state on Mexico's Caribbean coast. 'This thing about looking for end-times is not something that comes from Mayan culture.'

Dr Braswell compared the Maya calendar, with its system of cycles within cycles, to the series of synchronized wheels contained in old, analogue car odometers.

'The Maya long count system is like a car odometer,' Braswell wrote. 'My first car (odometer) only had six wheels so it went up to 99,999.9 miles. That didn't mean the car would explode after reaching 100,000 miles.'

More...

Even weak flares are usually only powerful enough to disrupt radio communications on Earth.

An expert from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which oversees the SDO mission, said in the video's description:'The expanding particle clouds heading into space do not appear to be Earth-directed'.

He added: 'The red-glowing looped material is plasma, a hot gas made of electrically charged hydrogen and helium.

'The prominence plasma flows along a tangled and twisted structure of magnetic fields generated by the Sun’s internal dynamo.

Fireball: The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle

'An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma.'

Both solar flares - seen as red-glowing looped plasma, a hot gas comprised of electrically charged hydrogen and helium - were so big they completely filled the lens of the high-definition NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Observers noticed a powerful solar flare - registered as an M6-class eruption, a moderate but still intense solar event - erupted last Monday.

The burst of solar energy triggered a spectacular northern lights displays for observers at high latitudes.

The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle is called Solar Cycle 24 and is expected to peak in 2013.

French officials have shut down access to the Pic de Bugarach, aka 'Doomsday Mountain,' one of the only safe havens in the world according to the much-publicized Mayan prophecy of 2012. The doomsday mountain is getting blocked because government officials worry that it will attract swarms of media, onlookers and new age kooks who will create a frenzy regardless of whether or not the apocalypse materializes. According to believers, the doomsday mountain will open up on Dec 21 and a spaceship will emerge, ushering true believers to safety.

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"We are expecting a few visionaries, a few people who believe in this end of the world, but in extremely limited numbers," Eric Freysselinard, the state's top representative in the area told AFP. "We are expecting greater numbers of people who are just curious, but in numbers we cannot determine. Above all, we are expecting lots of journalists," he said.

There have even been reports of UFO activity:

A cadre of 100 police and fire department officials will be on hand that day to prevent people from scaling the mountain and to maintain order in the village at the base of the mountain. Should the situation get out of hand, officials will shut down access to the village as well.

The Mayan apocalypse is believed to occur on Dec 21 because it marks the end of a baktun, a 394-year period developed by the Mayans. It will be the 13th baktun in the calendar, which is what some believe makes it significant. The theory is that the Mayans were in tune to cosmological forces beyond our comprehension and those forces will unleash a global torrent of destruction be it from an intense solar flare or the reversal of the planet's magnetic fields.

So, since the French have blocked the doomsday mountain where can apocalypse believers go on Dec. 21, 2012 to survive? Fortunately for you, there are some great Cold War-era doomsday shelters in the U.S. that could provide apocalypse-proof security.

By far the nicest is the bunker at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. Because if you're going to survive an apocalypse, why not do it in style? The bunker was built into a mountainside by the U.S. during the Cold War to serve as an emergency fallout shelter for top political officials. What can survivors find in the bunker? It's got 25-ton blast doors, can house 1,100 people, has its own power plant and water purification equipment, three 14,000 gallon diesel fuel tanks, dentist and doctor's offices, a pharmacy and a TV studio. Pretty swank for doomsday, or any other day really. (CONSPIRACY ALERT: The Bunker will shut down in early December for "renovations." Sounds like some bigwigs are prepping for something, no?)

If you've got a little money to spend and are interested in a more reliable, commercial alternative for survigin the apocalypse then you absolutely MUST consider a Vivos Shelter. The company offers both community and private shelters in Indiana, Nebraska and the Rocky Mountains. They have a membership process, and won't take just anyone's $35,000 fee. Here's a guided video tour of what awaits you before, during and after the Rapture:

They also have one of the best apocalypse-prevention lines I've ever heard: "It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." Awesome.

Let's say you don't have access to historic Greenbrier or an extra $35k in the sofa cushions. What's left? How about scrambling in a blind panic to a top secret military area that may or may not be a shelter? Then Site R is for you!

Site R is an installation that is located in Pennsylvania and is just close enough to Camp David to maybe be a government bunker of some kind. It was one of several undisclosed locations that protected Vice President Dick Cheney during the 9/11 attacks. Here's a link to a birdseye view of the facility to help you prepare your mad scramble for safety.

Oh, and for anyone still wanting to convince themselves that the Mayan Apocalypse WON'T happen, NASA took the time to explain, scientifically, why the whole apocalypse-based-on-calendars thing is basically BS.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Doomsday 2012

2012 Doomsday: Predicting an End, or Just a Cycle? begins Nov. 25 at WKU’s Hardin Planetarium. Show times are 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 23. Admission is free and the 40-minute program is suitable for all ages. Note that the show will begin on time, with no late entrance permitted.

About the show: Some say the Mayas predicted the end of the world on Dec. 21. This interactive presentation takes a light-hearted look at the many "prophecies" and alarmist warnings which claim to know how the world will end, if any of them could be right, and how this craze all got started in the first place.

About Me

Prof. Muse Tegegne has lectured sociology Change & Liberation in Europe, Africa and Americas. He has obtained Doctorat es Science from the University of Geneva. A PhD in Developmental Studies & ND in Natural Therapies. He wrote on the problematic of the Horn of Africa extensively. He Speaks Amharic, Tigergna, Hebrew, English, French. He has a good comprehension of Arabic, Spanish and Italian.